


How to Fall in Love with your Boyfriend's Girlfriend

by Vera (Vera_DragonMuse)



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Biker Gangs, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-14
Updated: 2016-03-23
Packaged: 2018-05-13 21:10:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5717251
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vera_DragonMuse/pseuds/Vera
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A guide to the complicated made simple. Sort of. Mostly by Poe Dameron.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Step One: Acquire a Boyfriend

“This is all yours?” Finn rolled his chair slowly into the echoing space of Poe’s apartment. 

“It used to be some corporate offices,” Poe followed him in, setting down the small duffel bag that contained all of Finn’s worldly goods. “Leia bought the building off a foreclosure for a song.” 

The apartment had once been a cubicle warren. The furniture had still been there when they moved in and it had taken Poe weeks to move it all into storage. Now he he had a vast space with his sparse furniture doting it. The bed was pushed right into the corner, soaking up the generous light of the afternoon. 

“It’s huge,” the wheelchair navigated well over the coffee stained industrial carpeting. Poe had come back the night before and moved a few things around once Finn had agreed to be discharged into his care. 

“I don’t use most of it. I’m rarely here,” Beebee stirred from a pile of laundry on the floor, then bound her way over to Poe in a series of enthusiastic barks. “World’s worst guard dog. Say hello to Finn.” 

She looked in Finn’s general direction, back at Poe, then trotted over to let Finn scratch her head while she got in a few sedate sniffs. 

“You remember me?” Finn asked her and she huffed a breath. 

“I think you insulted her,” Poe laughed. “She remembers everything. Collies. Too smart for their own good.” 

Finn headed toward the kitchen, the long row of exposed shelves and bowl of fruit. He went to grab an apple, then stopped, fingers curling back in on themselves. 

“Hey, I told you,” Poe plucked up the apple and handed it to him. “What’s mine is yours. How about I scrape together something for dinner? Hospital food couldn’t have done you much good.” 

“It was kind of bland,” Finn bit into the apple and made a soft happy noise. It struck Poe like a tuning fork. “Where’d you get this?”

“Just the grocer down the street. I think they’re called Pink Ladies? I like ‘em sweet.” 

“This is amazing.” 

“Then I might have a chance of actually impressing you with dinner.” 

They ate at the scarred wooden table Poe had dragged off the curb a few years ago. Finn praised the simple fare (the chicken was actually pretty dry) and drank half of a beer that went straight to his head. 

“I think I’m dizzy,” he rested his chin in his hand. 

“Please tell me I didn’t just give you your first drink,” Poe laughed. 

“No! No, I’ve had a few here and there, but it didn’t come up much. I know the Resistance is a party gang-” 

“Lies. We’re good for a fun night, here and there maybe-” 

“Two words: Glitter. Riot.” 

“Grossly exaggerated,” Poe laughed. “It was a very low key Glitter Shindig. Barely any property damage.” 

“Hedonist trash,” Finn waved his fork at him. “Out to undermine the system.” 

“I stand accused,” Poe leaned back in his chair. “That the kind of stuff they told you?” 

“Pretty much. I don’t know. Started to sound like you guys were having all the fun after awhile.” 

“Because we are. You know. In between fights and global destruction.” 

“Sorry,” Finn sighed. “I mean I know I didn’t...but sorry anyway.” 

“Yeah, me too.” The ceiling had traces of water damage. Poe studied it for a long moment. “So I guess you haven’t seen Game of Thrones yet with all the purity and whatnot.” 

“Game of who now?” 

They watched the first three episodes, Finn tucked on the edge of the couch with a mug of cold tea pressed in his hands. In point of fact, Poe was mostly watching Finn and running his hand along Beebee’s back. There hadn’t been much time to just look in the past few days. A lot of running, a lot of driving too fast with an unfamiliar bike underneath him and blood pouring through the radio to paint the grisly death of the society Poe had given his life to. 

There hadn’t been time to admire the firm chin line that softened with parted lips or the breadth of shoulders used to carrying the weight of expectation across the. Finn was both freshly born and a thousand years old. 

“This is brutal,” Finn huffed. “You watch this for fun?” 

“You don’t like it?’ Poe broke out of his reverie. “Why didn’t you say something?” 

“I wasn’t sure I didn’t like it,” the shrug was careless. “Or maybe it would be different with a few more minutes, but I don’t think it’s for me.” 

“All right, we could put on something lighter?” 

“Actually, man, I’m exhausted.” 

“Right! Of course you are. Sorry. I’m a bit of a night owl.” 

“That doesn’t surprise me,” the smile melted over Poe, soaking into his skin. 

Together they managed to get Finn out of the chair and into the bed without jostling his wounds too badly. The doctors were confident that time and physical therapy would put everything to rights, but for now there was no question of Finn bunking on the sofa. 

“Your bed is ridiculous,” Finn said with deadpan seriousness. “How many pillows do you own?“

“Just enough,” Poe fluffed one and stuck it under the air cast on Finn’s left leg. 

“And these sheets,” with a wiggle, Finn rubbed himself against them and Poe drew on many poker nights to keep his face a blank. “What the hell threadcount are they?” 

“Dunno. I got them at a flea market from a guy with a questionable moustache.” 

“What makes a mustache questionable?” 

“It moved a lot while he was talking. Worm like,” putting a finger to his lip Poe imitated the motion until Finn laughed. 

“Fine, sheets of weird origins, too many pillows and a mattress like a marshmallow. Spoiled is what you are.” 

“Yeah,” he agreed because compared to Finn he was a fucking crown prince of spoiled. “But at least now you get to share it.” 

It turned out that Finn had a slight wheeze to his breath. Not enough to disturb or annoy, but enough to remind Poe that the apartment was a little less empty tonight. He opened his laptop and worked quietly, trying to ignore Beebee’s pacing. She kept nudging him and then walking toward the bed hopefully or flopping down at his feet with a heavy sigh then getting up again to check on Finn. 

“We’re sleeping on the couch tonight, sweetheart,” he stretched out to make the point and pulled her favorite blanket over himself. “C’mon, settle.” 

She whined and started pacing again. After fifteen minutes, Finn groaned. 

“Will she stop if you sleep in the bed?” 

“I’m not making you-” 

“For fuck’s sake, your bed is the size of a cruise ship. I think we can share.” 

“You sure?” 

“If it means I won’t have dreams about tiny armies marching across the floor, yes.” 

Poe curled around a pillow, the soft dip of the mattress as Beebee settled at his feet comfortingly familiar. He didn’t even try to sleep, looking past Finn out through the windows at the fat moon smiling down. There was too much light pollution to see the stars which was a damn shame. 

“Hey, Poe?” 

“Hm?” 

“Thank you.” 

“What for?” 

“Everything?” 

“You’re welcome,” Poe laughed, reaching out to gently toe the one exposed strip of skin above Finn’s left cast. “For everything. I should be thanking you anyway.” 

“Suppose you are. Letting me crash here.” 

“Not crashing,” Poe yawned. “Home. You can be home here if you want.” 

“Home,” Finn repeated, distant as the moon. 

To his complete surprise the next morning, Poe fell asleep. He woke to Finn’s hand on his arm, resting there as gentle and sure as Finn handled his gun. Poe opened his eyes to the bright morning light. 

“You’re a strange one, Poe Dameron.” Finn looked at him across the pillow. 

“What’d I do?” he asked around a yawn. 

“Everything.” 

They spent the day together. Beebee needed a walk, so Poe showed off his neighborhood. He pushed the wheelchair while Finn held the leash and they talked about the merits of pancakes versus waffles as the perfect breakfast food. When they got back, Poe made pancakes even though he’d argued for waffles and Finn washed the dishes with single minded precision. Armed with the Roku remote, Finn found lighter fare for himself while Poe read through plans that Leia had sent out at some ungodly hour of the morning. 

“Your Rey is on course,” Poe said idly as he paged through. “She emailed in this morning.” 

“Yeah?” Finn lit up and turned all his attention to Poe. “What’d she say?” 

The email was only a few terse lines and Poe found himself mad that she hadn’t said more when Finn’s face fell. 

“Do they know when she’ll be back?” He leaned back into his nest of blankets. 

“As soon as I know, you’ll know,” Poe vowed. 

In the afternoon, Poe had to go into the shop and he reluctantly left Finn behind. Beebee was surprisingly agreeable to staying with him, settling at Finn’s feet without acknowledging Poe’s departure. The meeting was depressing, but informative and he came back in a more melancholy mood then when he left. 

“It isn’t much, but I threw dinner together,” Finn presented a bowl of rice, beans and chicken. “And I did some laundry. Do you actually use your drawers or do you just store everything on the floor?” 

“You didn’t have to do that,” Poe inhaled the meal, hungrier than he’d thought. “Most of it was probably clean already.” 

“It’s a really nice chest of drawers. Just sitting there. Neglected.”  
And Poe laughed because Finn had a genius for soliciting it from him. 

The days slid into each other. Poe took Finn to his PT sessions. In the car, not the bike, which they both looked at longingly as it sat neglected in it’s space. Slowly, Finn ventured out by himself even coming down to the shop a few times where he was warmly greeting to his continual surprise. The other bikers brought him offerings of take out and shoulder punches. When it became clear he was too fidgety to be left to doze in the waiting room with the customers, they brought him into the back and taught him the computer system. 

“Your boy is a whiz with Excel,” Jessica told Poe over a transmission rebuild. “I think he found money we never had before.” 

“He’s not mine,” Poe leaned in and frowned over a valve. 

“He could be.” 

“He’s his own and belongs to himself. That’s the way it should be, not matter what we’re doing in bed.” 

There were lines and there were morals. Maybe Poe’s were different than most, but he adhered to them ironclad. He slept on his side of the bed, kept up his side of the banter and made attempts to keep his clothes in the vicinity of his bureau. He absorbed Finn’s careless affections, arms around his shoulders and aching legs in his lap. 

The day that Finn was approved to walk with only a cane, they celebrated by going out to dinner and ate greasy burgers by the river while Beebee barked at the ducks. 

“Leia said she’ll pay me to keep the books,” Finn slung the last of his bun at the harassed waterfowl. “And that once I can keep my feet, you’ll teach me how to ride properly.” 

“Do you want to learn?” 

“Yeah. Good to have the skills just in case. Think I’d rather have you at the wheel most of the time though.” 

“Not a problem. My driving, your shooting? They’ll never get us,” Poe wiped his hands on a paper napkin. 

“Rey is a pretty good driver too,” Finn said casually. 

“I’ve heard,” he looked out over the water. “Can’t have too many good people on your side.” 

“Does it bother you?” 

“Does what bother me?” Poe looked over in faint surprise. 

“That I care so much about her?” 

“Should it?” Poe blinked once, slowly, trying to figure out where the conversation had gotten away from him. 

“Well, we’re...you know. And I...with her. So?” 

“Was there a sentence in there?” Poe swallowed hard. “We’re what?”

“Well, we’re dating right?” 

“Um,” Poe dashed through the last few weeks in his head. “Very chastely, yes. I mean...yes. We’re dating.”

“And I would sort of like to date Rey if she comes back. When. When she comes back,” Finn looked so thoughtful and calm that Poe was able to find his own center again. 

“That’s okay. I mean, we’ll have to do a lot of talking. Make sure we’re all on the same page, but yeah.” 

“Really?” The smile was bigger than any Finn had given him before. 

“Really. One question though.” 

“Anything.” 

“If we’re dating, can I kiss you?” 

“Yes,” Finn blurted out before the question was fully formed in the air between them. “Right now. Please.” 

The ducks took wing, escaping Beebee’s giddy barks and she dashed into the water. Poe didn’t notice until she was thoroughly soaked and shaking herself off on them both.


	2. Step Two: Invite the Girlfriend to Live with You

“Hey, who’s that?” Jessica tilted her chin toward the cab pulling up outside. “I thought all the clients were picking up later today.” 

“Not a client,” Poe determined as the backdoor cracked open. “Jess, go get the General.” 

She took off running as Poe went outside. He knew the man now standing on the curb, would recognize him no matter how many years had gone by or how long a beard he would grow. This was the man who had put his hands on Poe's shoulders after his mother died and said he was sorry with so much sorrow that Poe believed him. This was the man who had been a pillar of the Resistance until he was gone, leaving them weaker and worse for it. 

“Welcome home, sir,” he offered his hand. 

“You’re taller,” Luke’s smile was faint, but present. His hand was calloused and dry. 

“So they tell me.” 

Then the General hit like a whirlwind. She and her brother spun in circles in the most brutal hug that Poe had ever witnessed. Leia was claws and teeth and tears while Luke hung on and whispered a litany of apologies. 

Poe back away slowly. That was when he caught sight of Rey. She was still standing in the street, her face a puzzle of confusion. An enormous backpack was settled on her tiny frame, but she wasn’t bent forward a single degree. In the afternoon haze, she was the image of compacted strength swimming in an oversized white shirt and ancient jeans. 

“You did it,” Poe smiled at her and she turned to him with wide eyes. “You brought him home.” 

“He wanted to come,” she smiled, a perfect mirror of Luke’s faded charm. “He just didn’t know that he did.” 

“Finn’s inside,” he offered. 

“Is he healed?” She started forward, the flash of a wicked knife at her hip. 

“Mostly. Just watch his left hip. It’s a little stiff when he’s been sitting too long.” 

Her hair was a mess, locks escaping from their complicated ties in every direction and there was mud caked on her boots. The sun had chewed her skin and the world had beaten it’s will on her. 

She was gorgeous. Poe was thankful to his bone that he and Finn had already discussed things. If it came down to a decision between the two of them, Poe had to admit that the competition would have been near impossible to beat. 

“Finn?” She called out as soon as she got inside. All the mechanics stopped their work and almost as one pointed toward the business office. 

“She brought back Luke?” Ike asked in a hush. 

“Evidence is outside,” he hooked a thumb behind him. 

“Did she really find the Millennium Falcon?” Trish leaned on the trunk of a Pontiac. 

“She drove it there and back. With Chewbacca.” 

The collective gasp belonged more in a grade school then among grown adults with rap sheets. 

“REY!” Finn’s manly yelp echoed through the open room. “You’re back!” 

Poe turned his attention to the office. Through the window, he could see Finn embracing Rey so effusively that she temporarily disappeared from sight. When she emerged, she was flushed pink and smiling, clinging to Finn’s arms with white knuckled strength. 

“Uh, dude,” Jessica coughed. 

“Yeah, I know,” Poe rolled his eyes. “You know I know.” 

“But do they know that you know?” 

“Yes, you crazy motherfucker,” he elbowed her and she elbowed back until they were scrapping on the floor. He was just about to pin her when a throat cleared. 

They snapped to attention, on their feet and regulation square in seconds. Leia had her arms crossed over her chest and was clearly trying hard not to look amused. 

“Do I have to separate you two?” 

“He started it, m’am,” Jessica said with a cheeky grin. 

“And one day I’m going to end it,” he winked at her and Leia rolled her eyes. 

“Lovely.” 

Rey and Finn emerged from the office and to Poe’s quiet relief, Finn still gravitated toward him until they were pressed shoulder to shoulder. 

“Attention!” Leia barked and once more work ceased. “Yes, Luke is back. No, he doesn’t want to answer questions. Yes, we will have a welcome home party at the Catina within a week or two. No, this does not give anyone permission for a celebratory explosion. If anyone needs me, text. Otherwise, I will be out of touch for a few days. Dameron has the helm. If you’re in the middle of a project, finish it up. Otherwise, I think we can all go home early today.” 

A ragged cheer went up and Leia turned from the crowd to face Rey. 

“I have an extra guest room if you want to stay with me,” she offered. “It’s not much.” 

The silence yawned, the penny dropping on why exactly Leia might have that extra space. When he was young, Ben had collected action figures. Poe could just imagine the little room with it’s dusty shelves waiting for a return that would never come, giving Rey an army of stink eye. 

“She can stay with us,” he blurted. Finn went wide eyed and nodded frantically in agreement. “I mean. I can find a cot or something.” 

“Yes,” Rey accepted just as quickly. “I’d like to catch up with Finn.” 

“Good,” Leia’s shoulders relaxed. “That’s good. Don’t hesitate to reach out if you need anything.” 

Then she was gone, leaving behind the faint smell of her shampoo. 

“Jessica, do you still need me?” Poe called over. She waved him away with a filthy rag. “Okay. Rey, you hungry?” 

They wound up eating pizza in a crowded parlor, all squeezed around a table meant for two. Rey ate with her eyes at half-mast, a familiar look of new pleasure seeping into her features. 

“We have to get Thai for dinner from the good place,” Finn practically bounced in his chair. 

They were children in so many ways. Poe swallowed down a golf ball of grief for them and vowed to buy them both as much take out as they could handle. And cupcakes. Oh Jesus, he was going to have to learn how to make motherfucking cupcakes or go broke smothering them both in expensive frosting. 

Finn might look good smothered in frosting actually. 

“Whatever you want,” Poe leaned back in the booth, wondering where all his cool had gone. Maybe he’d lost it when he’d run into Finn. That had a big confusing place with a lot of hallways. 

Rey was not quite as impressed with Poe’s apartment as Finn. 

“This is...big,” she looked truly tiny for the first time, wide eyed and dwarfed by the backpack she refused to surrender. 

“You get used to it.” 

Beebee bolted out from her laundry pile like a bat of hell and barreled directly into Rey’s legs, knocking her to the floor. A reprimand was on Poe’s lips, but died there when he saw how Rey clung to the dog and encouraged every single sloppy, doggy breathed kiss. 

“I still don’t get greeted like that,” Finn laughed. 

“We have a bond,” Rey said seriously as Beebee climbed into her and leaned into her with all her might. 

“I can see that,” Poe squatted down and looked Beebee in the eye. “You are a traitor.” 

Beebee’s tongue flopped out to the side and she tilted her head back so Rey could give her the really good kind of chin scratch. 

They did set up a cot for Rey, discreetly on the other side of the apartment from their bed. There was a copious amount of not having sex which Poe accepted with generally good grace. It was hard to be annoyed when Finn was so happy. If he noticed that Rey’s little cot was absurdly tidy he gave no hint. 

The third morning, Poe woke up deliberately early and wasn’t surprised to see that the cot was unslept in. Beebee was sitting in the kitchen in front of big cabinet under the sink, nosing at the door. Very very slowly and quietly, Poe cracked open the cabinet door. While he’d been half-expecting it, his heart about broke when he saw Rey curled up in a blanket. She had wedged herself into the tight space with so little room to manuver that his back ached on her behalf. 

He closed the door and turned to Beebee. 

“Finn never finds about this, capiche?” 

Beebee whined softly. 

Poe went to the bathroom and made a lot of noise taking his shower. When he got out, Rey was tucked into the cot faking a yawn and stretch. 

“I’m going to make french toast,” he said casually. “You want to learn how to make whip cream?”

“Aren’t you supposed to be an adult?” She tilted her head birdlike to one side. 

“So they keep telling me.” 

“Yes,” she decided. “Show me.” 

Unsurprisingly, she could stir tirelessly while still managing a game of fetch with Beebee that required her to use her feet. 

“Guess all that training has to pay off somehow, huh?” He teased. “What’s Luke have you doing today?” 

“Mopping,” she frowned. “And dusting. Apparently cleaning is good discipline.” 

“Ugh, talking,” Finn mumble-shouted at them. “Sleeping.” 

“You can sleep or you can have strawberries in cream, babe,” Poe kicked Beebee’s toy neatly onto the bed so that she bounded on top of Finn’s back. 

“There are strawberries,” Rey stopped stirring. “Where? When?” 

“I hid the rest from dinner two nights ago,” he gestured toward the fridge. 

Breakfast was near carnage. Poe ate at the counter, watching their warring forks. Rey’s lips were quickly red from the berries, sweet and welcome. Finn had a speck of whipped cream in his eyebrow. Poe leaned in and wiped it away with his thumb. 

“I think I’m going to hit the farmer’s market before going into work,” he mused. 

“Farmer’s market?” Rey’s eyes lit up. “What’s that?” 

So his first diversion failed. Rey texted Luke that she’d be late and Finn reluctantly left them to it. He couldn’t regret it though because giving Rey a wad of cash and letting her loose at the market might make his top ten list of best mornings. 

“You have chickens?” She stood on her tiptoes peering into a cooler of eggs. 

“Yeah,” a dude with a scraggly beard pulled out a half-dozen. “I raise ‘em in a coop on the rooftop. Sweet girls. Maybe you could-” 

“A dozen,” Poe growled. The dude went pale and handed over the eggs. It wasn’t often that Poe played up his club jacket (new and still stiff with his old one safely embracing Finn), black boots and frayed jeans. Most people forgot what he did as a matter of course. But sometimes a little intimidation was useful. 

“Thank you!” Rey chirped, happily oblivious.  
  
“There’s honey a few stalls down,” Poe herded her away. 

“Do you think they bring the bees with them?” She booked it down the aisle. 

The woman selling gluten-free granola took a shine to her and the two of them discussed the merits of herbal remedies. Poe wandered off for a bit and came back with fresh lemonade for them both. 

“A gentleman,” the granola lady took her cup and tipped at Rey, “you should hold on to him, dear. Not many of that kind around these days.” 

Rey turned to look Poe over as if she hadn’t seen him before, sucking down lemonade with a thoughtful slurp. 

“Uh-” 

“Tomatoes,” Rey declared and picked up her bag of granola. “And cucumbers. So you can show me how to make that salad thing with the dill.” 

“Right,” Poe offered her his arm, pleased when she tucked her hand into his elbow. 

When they had the saddlebags loaded, Poe handed her the extra helmet again. She took it slowly. 

“Could I...” She touched the handlebars gently. 

“I think if you can handle the Falcon, you can take on my bike,” he strapped on the helmet. 

It had been a long time since he’d ridden behind someone and longer still since that person had been smaller than him. Finding a good place for his hands was a bit of a negotiation in and of itself. 

The ride made it worth it. She was a good driver, steady and confident without being cocky. Once she got a handle on the bike, she opened it up and took the road like it belonged to her. He whooped in her ear, cheering on a particularly good slice through traffic. 

Eventually, she had to go to Luke’s and he was able to start on his project. Finn texted idly late in the day when Poe was soldering. 

_you coming in?_

He took of his glove long enough to whip back, 

_got caught up. I’ll pick you up at five._

The project was done just in the nick of time. He washed his face, hopped back on his bike and made for the shop. Finn was waiting outside, hunched into his jacket and talking seriously to Jessica about something. 

“You smell like burning,” Finn commented when he settled behind Poe, hands ghosting under Poe’s t-shirt to settle on his stomach. 

“You say the nicest things, babe.” 

When they drove up, Rey was just coming down the street and she quickened her pace to follow them into the garage. As soon as Finn dismounted, she was telling him about the market, leaving Poe to trail behind them in a not at all suspicious manner. 

They push through the door, so distracted with chatter and making a fuss over Beebee that they miss it at first. Poe leaned in the doorway, waiting. He was good at waiting. No one really know how much of becoming the best was learning patience. 

“Hey,” Finn twigged first. “What is that?” 

“What’s what?” Rey glanced up then froze. 

The place where her cot had been had been converted. Using some of the discarded cubicle walls, Poe had built a small box of a room inside the larger space and then draped it liberally with old sheets until it looked a little like a tent. 

“I figured if you’re staying, you should have a room,” Poe shooed her towards it. “Look inside.” 

He was proud of the little structure, but especially of the hammock that hung neatly suspended out from the wall. Above it, he had strung white Christmas lights against the sheet/roof like the night sky. The space was tight, cozy and completely closed off from the rest of the apartment. 

“I love hammocks,” she said softly, casting a look at Poe over Finn’s shoulder. 

“Who doesn’t?” He said brightly. “I’ve got a stew in the slow cooker whenever you guys are ready to eat. Gotta shower off the burning smell.” 

The door to the bathroom was locked, but somehow Finn wound up in the shower with him. 

“You,” Finn reached for the soap and rubbed it down Poe’s back, “are too nice for your own good.” 

“I like her. She deserves nice things.” 

“But she’s my...you know. Something. Or we’re working on it. And you’re my boyfriend. I like that you like her and everything, but it’s weird that you aren’t more...” 

“Jealous?” Poe sighed, leaning back to rest his head on the curve of Finn’s shoulder. “I don’t know. I grew up sharing everything with everybody. I’ve had polyamorous relationships before that went okay.” 

“Jessica said to ask you twice because your first answer would be bullshit.” 

“Jessica is a lying liar who lies,” Poe huffed and started making revenge plans. “You were talking to Jessica about me?” 

“No one knows you better,” Finn dropped a kiss on his cheek. “So? Jealous?” 

Poe thought about the cabinet and the farmer’s market and the bike ride. He thought about the stories and how Rey had brought Luke back to them. He thought about her smile and her ferocity. The innocence coupled with intimidating prowess. He didn’t know her barely at all, but he knew if they got out of the bathroom right now that she would be in the kitchen eating gluten-free granola like chipmunk looking at a long winter. 

“Well. Shit,” he laughed and closed his eyes against the water. 

“What?” Finn turned him. “What is it?” 

“Babe, how would you feel about me dating your girlfriend?”


	3. Step Three: Kiss the Girl, Kiss the Boy, and Hold On for All Your Worth

“Why is he wringing his hands?” Rey whispered to Finn. “I didn’t know people actually did that.” 

“I think he’s having a crisis?” Finn whispered back. “I’m not clear.” 

Poe sat down heavily across from them. Stared at them as they looked back at him with raised eyebrows. 

“Just...listen, okay? Don’t take anything from Iz or Jake. And don’t drink the punch. If the police come, take the elevator back up and get in bed. You have no idea there was a party going on,” he ran a hand through his hair and huffed. 

“Uh, you know we’re grown people right?” Finn poked him. 

“I’m aware. These are solid warnings for people of all ages attending a Resistance party. Leia is probably reminding Luke of them right now.”  

“Glitter Riot,” Finn muttered. “I knew that was an actual thing.” 

“There may have been a very small, barely worth mentioning amount of rioting,” Poe allowed.  

“What does a small riot look like?” Rey had a smirk on her face that Poe decided to lean over and kiss off. She flushed pink and pleased, so Finn came in from the other side and left a lingering touch of lips to her temple. 

“It looks like a glitter bomb exploded. I found it in my clothes for days.” 

The party wasn’t meant to be a rager, but Poe knew how quickly these things could spin out of control. The three of them took the elevator down early, helping to set up tables for food and drink. Ike was already lining up unlabeled bottles next to liters of soda. 

“What’s that?” Rey picked up one clear bottle and Poe reminded himself that if she was an adult and he was in no way her babysitter. 

“That, dear Rey,” Ike smiled, all shark teeth and one glittering gold cap, “is my mama’s best moonshine.” 

“What’s moonshine?” Finn wandered over. 

“It’s God’s blood is what it is,” Ike beamed and uncorked the first bottle and poured them each a shot. “This one’s strawberry flavored.” 

Rey took hers and wafted it under her nose. Her eyes went wide. Finn slung the shot down without such precautions. Swiping a cup, Poe held it before him to cough into. 

“I think my body just rejected that,” Finn decided and wisely backed away, returning to where Jessica was making an impressive pyramid of Pringles containers.  

“Hm,” Rey narrowed her eyes. 

“You really don’t have to,” Poe started, but it was too late. She slammed it down and kept it there, eyes watering. Then she gave a full body shiver. 

“Strong,” she choked out. 

“Yeah,” Poe took the shot glass from her. “Little bit.” 

He figured that would be the end of that. Because sometimes, he was a very stupid man. The rooms filled up with the Resistance, a swelling of leather and rough joy. He lost track of Finn and Rey in short order, then got sidelined by Leia and Luke. They took him to a quiet room, carved out of the vast loud space and they talked business. He listened, ever the good soldier, though he itched to find out what was going on outside. When they released him, twin knowing smiles on their faces, he knocked back into the halls. 

That’s when he heard the singing. 

“Shit,” he said loudly and everyone around him gave him sympathetic smiles. 

The Resistance band was less talent and more bullheaded refusal to admit that an accordion, a trumpet, an acoustic guitar, and a drunk vocalist did not make for the best party music. Jessica was playing the part of drunk vocalist tonight and she was doing her favorite song. 

_ Ooooh the Resistance is mighty _

_The Resistance is grand!_  She bellowed out the chorus along with everyone in the room. 

_ We even have a shitty band!  _

_ But without our soldiers we’re nothing at all _

_ That’s why we have the officer roll call! _

“What verse is she on?”  He shouted at the girl bouncing next to him. 

“Her own, I think!” 

  
Poe groaned. That meant he only had forty odd seconds to find Finn and Rey before they heard it. 

_Jessica Pava, hot like lava!_ Jessica gyrated as she sang-shouted and the crowd roared with laughter. 

_ A right hook for any that cross her _

_ Yes, even your mama!  _

_ Jessica Pava, lieutenant at large,  _

_ But Poe better watch his ass or she’ll be in charge! _

He spotted Rey, leaning hard against Finn, her cheeks flushed and her lips moving along with the chorus. Finn looked sturdier, supporting her and unphased by the general debauchery around them. Pushing first carefully and then with purpose through the crowd, Poe thought he might just make it. 

“Hey!” Jessica shouted. “And there he is! You guys know the words!” 

“Ooooooooooh,” the crowd chorused and Poe debated just laying down on the floor and letting the collective company’s steel toed boots put him out of his misery. 

_ Look at that hair! Look at those eyes! _

_ Imagine that between your thighs!  _

_ Poe Dameron is scrappy and quick _

_ Fast with a gun, cycle or lick!  _

_ A seducer of all  _

_ Even the enemy can’t resist  _

_ He loves ‘em and leaves ‘em, in a pile of bliss! _

The song went on, launching into the chorus again. Poe lifted his chin and found Rey and Finn’s eyes glued to him, their expressions matched in shock. He felt hemmed in suddenly, overheated and sick. He backed away through the crowd and wound his way back to the elevator. The apartment was right out, but the streets would be filled with smokers from the party still humming scraps of the song.

Up, then. He went to the roof, where the door was ever propped with a piece of rebar. The edge was guarded by a low wall which he collapsed over. Beneath him, the city that he’d come to think of as home hummed away.  It was safer to take the long view, to think about all the things that needed doing. Most people probably imagined Poe as impulsive, but as much as he lived a risky life, he had too many responsibilities to ignore consequences. 

Leia had put her hand on his arm just minutes ago, 

“The next year or so is going to be damn near impossible for us. Do you understand? I need you to be my strong right hand more than ever. ” 

She had charged him and he would obey. There was a war brewing beneath the parties and the glitter bombs. The First Order had blood to answer for. Poe clenched and released his fists slowly, cold air cascading in and out of his lungs. 

“He’s up here!” Someone shouted and he turned fast, adrenaline pumping. It was only Rey, her hair loose from it’s usual untidy buns. Her eyes were outlined in weeping black lines, where she had forgotten that she’d put makeup on earlier.  “What are you doing?” 

“Taking a breather,” he said quietly.  Finn appeared in the doorway behind her and then they were both stumbling towards him. “Okay, no. Stop.” 

They both froze, blinking wildly at him. 

“But-” Rey started. 

“No drunk people on rooftops,” he said firmly. “We can talk inside.” 

“We’re not drunk,” Rey rolled her eyes. “I told you, Dameron, we’re not children.” 

“This is true,” Finn said carefully. “But I’m sort of groggy? And this is really really really high up.” 

“Okay, maybe Finn is a little drunk,” Rey allowed. 

They trooped back inside, leaving the city to fend for itself a while longer. The elevator ride was silent, Finn apparently trying to sober himself up by blinking rapidly. By the time he realized that was a poor idea, they were getting off on their floor. 

Beebee was hiding under the bed, the thudding chaos still faintly audible through the floor. Rey got down on the floor to coax her out while Finn sat down heavily on the couch. Poe went to the kitchen to put on a pot of coffee. His hands needed work. The sounds of the percolation echoed through the room. 

“The thing is,” he said to the coffee pot, the distortion of his reflection a far easier to address, “I’m not ashamed of it. But I feel like I should be.” 

“Is he talking to us?” Finn asked in a hush and Rey snapped something back at him in a harsh whisper. 

“It just seems like something I don’t have to talk about. I was the sort of person that slept around a lot and now I’m mostly not. What does it matter?” The coffee pot burbled in a sympathetic manner. “And I didn’t sleep with the enemy. Flirting...a little maybe if it got us what we needed.” 

“Are you okay?” Rey stood stilted beside him, her face melting disconcertingly with his own in the curved glass of the pot. “Did _you_ have too much to drink?” 

“Didn’t have a drop,” he hesitated then reached out to slide his arm around her thin shoulders. She didn’t step away, didn’t lean in, just let him hold her. 

“Neither of us cares who you had in bed before us,” she said stiffly. “And it’s kind of insulting that you think we would.” 

“Is it?” He sighed, dropped his hold on her and started pulling down mugs. “I’ve had worse fights with partners over smaller things.” 

“You do have nice hair and eyes,” Finn stumbled into the kitchen, reaching for one of the mugs with a finger waggle. “And I don’t even have to use my imagination about the thighs part.” 

“Nice,” Rey sighed. “I’m trying to make a point here.” 

“What point?” Finn asked. 

“That it doesn’t matter. That none of it matters,” she threw up her arms. “The world is a screwed up terrible place and we’re happy in it. That matters. Everything else is just....bull’s shit.” 

“Bullshit,” Poe corrected with a repressed grin. 

“Whatever!” She pointed a finger right under his nose. “You’re a faker, Dameron. You like to smile all the time and pretend nothing touches you, but we know it does. You don’t have to be...whatever. Mr. Perfect Host. We can handle who you are.” 

“I don’t-” Poe started. 

“She’s right,” Finn hooked his chin over Poe’s shoulder, holding out his empty mug with a pouting face until Poe filled it. “You always do this tour guide thing. But we aren't tourists. We’re staying. We live here, you know?” 

“You are?” He asked around the lump in his throat that had arrived without warning. “I mean, you don’t have to. There’s plenty of space in the building and if you wanted your own place, I figured you’d-” 

“You’re an idiot,” Rey pushed up to sit on the cabinet beside the machine. Her legs were bare from mid-thigh down and it was more than a little distracting. “We love you, Dameron. You made us a home.” 

“A really nice one,” Finn agreed, sipping his coffee, eyes half-closed in bliss. “We like it here.” 

“We’re staying,” Rey repeated. “So just...let your hair down and relax, okay? We’re not gonna run into the night screaming because you weren’t born fresh for us the night Finn showed up.” 

“I like that you’re experienced,” Finn planted a sloppy kiss on the curve of Poe’s jaw. “It makes some things easier. And some things harder...get it?” 

“I got it,” Poe laughed. “You should lie down, babe.” 

“Okay,” Finn said agreeably, not noticing as Poe removed the coffee from his grip and handed it off to Rey. She sniffed at it then set it aside. She and caffeine didn’t get along.

They both watched him stumble into bed, shoes barely kicked off than cocoon himself into the comforter. 

 

"It's a good thing I'm here," Rey determined. "You two would be lost without me."   
  


"Nah," Poe smiled. "We would've figured it out. With a lot more stalling. It's a good thing you're here anyway though." 

"Yeah?" She swallowed, but met his gaze dead on. "Cause I worry sometimes. That I'm getting in the way." 

"You are the way, sweetheart," he stepped into the vee of her legs, slid his hand up to cup her jaw and brought their foreheads together. 

"Sap," she sniffed and he laughed. 

"Guilty as charged." 

They parted ways for bed. Rey preferred to sleep in the solace of her little room and Poe preferred to sleep bare to the world, legs tangled with Finn's when they inevitably emerged from his overheated blanket bundle. In the morning though, she would slip in on Finn's other side to steal the warmth of the incoming sun and dance her fingers over Finn's back, Poe's hair, and Beebee's questing nose.  

Poe got to wake up most mornings clinging to the edge of his own full bed. Woke to a kiss from two bleary eyed wunderkind and the devoted annoyance of his dog.  It felt a little like a successful mission and a lot like love. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My apologies for the long delay on this concluding chapter. It's not perfect, but I hate to leave a story incomplete, so I hope it somewhat satisfies.


End file.
